Jan 6, 2008 — Greg Cauller thinks he's too young to be elected to a Hall of Fame.

The 48-year-old is still running. He's got more races to win, more accomplishments to attain, more trophies to compile.

He's OK with slowing down for at least one night, however. He has put the brakes on his own career enough to coach high school cross country and will be recognized for both his running and coaching achievements when he is inducted with four others in the York Area Sports Hall of Fame on Jan. 23.

“I was really surprised by it,” Cauller said of the news of his induction. “I don't often reflect upon my career. Maybe part of me thinks my career is still ongoing and I'm not in the golden years just yet.”

That career includes co-captaining an NCAA Division II national championship-winning Millersville cross country team in 1981 and earning All-America honors that same year.

Since college he has won more than 500 road races, including the York White Rose Run, the Lancaster Red Rose Run and the Millersville Turkey Trot. He has run a marathon in a mere 2 hours, 25 minutes, 30 seconds. In 2002, he was elected into the Millersville Hall of Fame.

“It's a different kind of recognition,” said Cauller, who is the cross country coach at Northeastern. “This is more of an individual achievement. I feel my recognition at Millersville was largely in conjunction with the fact that we were a very good team. I think that was probably the cornerstone of being recognized at Millersville.”

Cauller said his interest in the running has been lifelong, and he started running seriously as a sophomore at Hempfield High School. He won a state title at Hempfield before earning national honors at Millersville. After college, Cauller came to York County to teach at Northeastern High School.

Still running competitively on his own and for the Reebok racing team, he didn't have much time for a formal coaching position. He still made sure to take young area runners - like Kevin Stover of West York - under his wing.

“For so many years, he would help younger runners,” said Stover, who nominated Cauller. “I was in high school and it was like 'Whoa, this is Greg Cauller.' He was out there winning all these races and he was the guy. If you wanted to be like someone, you wanted to be like him. He was on top.”

Cauller continued to find success on a regional level, winning races in nine different states during the 1980s and '90s. In 1999, he won 42 titles. Soon afterward, he decided to take the plunge into coaching, running the Central York cross country program in 2000 and 2001 and taking over at Northeastern in 2003.

“I've learned about myself and about kids being a coach,” Cauller said. “One of the things I learned about coaching is it's not just what you know about the sport. It takes a lot of hard work, skill, patience and experience to be a good coach and I have all the respect in the world for them. Getting a chance to do that - to share what I've learned and what I know about the sport - has been special.”

Reach Sean McLernon at 771-2045 or smclernon@....